Poker has always been a popular card game. Given the increasing Internet penetration into society at large that has enabled substantial on-line play and the growth in television coverage of poker tournament events, the increase of poker play—both in home games and real and on-line virtual casinos—has been marked during the past several years.
There are many variations of poker, with popularity of a version being somewhat dependent upon factors including, but not limited to (1) the ready understanding of the rules set; (2) ease of play from the player's perspective; (3) rules which benefit experienced and knowledgeable players (poker players view themselves as engaged in an activity requiring skill rather than pure luck, although luck is a factor which adds to the game); (4) rules which create multiple playable hands in each dealt hand, thereby allowing many players to share each hand's play experience; (5) the game's ability to accommodate multiple players, without any chance of there being inadequate cards in a standard 52-card deck to complete game play; (6) ease of play from the house's perspective, in the scenario of a physical or an on-line casino; (7) play which can be accomplished, for each hand, in a discrete limited amount of time; and (8) requisite interest level to support running the game in a physical or on-line casino.
The game of Texas Hold'em amply satisfies many of the above criteria and is a very popular poker game. Because the present invention is a variation of Texas Hold'em, it is necessary to review the way the traditional game is played. Texas Hold'em is played with a minimum of two players and usually up to a maximum of ten players. A standard 52-card deck is used, a deck with four suits, Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades, each having thirteen cards, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace. Cards are shuffled before each hand, to a degree of complete randomness.
At the outset of play, each player receives two cards face down (‘hole cards’). Five cards are turned up in the center of the table and are used by all players. Players may use any combination of their two hole cards plus the five community cards on the table (also known as the ‘board’) to make the best five-card poker hand. Ranking of hands is the conventional ranking, with the highest hand being 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace on-suit (the highest straight-flush) and the lowest potential winning hand being high cards (when there is no pair or better hand). Two or more players may tie, in which event each receives an equal share from the pot created by the betting. All suits are equal in value in determining a winner. A flush of one suit against a flush of the same cards in another suit results in a tied hand.
At the outset of table play in many casino settings, a face up card is dealt from the deck to each player at the table, and the high-card recipient (as to card value, Club, Diamond, Heart, Spade is the ascending order of value, Ace of Spades being the highest card) is designated the first ‘button’ (dealer) position with ‘blinds’ (to be described below) clockwise from this position.
Actions may be taken by a player only when it is his turn to act. In structured games, betting limits double after the ‘turn’ (to be described below) is dealt. At any time, to ‘call’ a player must put in either the amount of chips of the bet(s) made in that betting round prior to his turn, or his entire amount of chips (‘stack’) at the table. If ever a player bets his whole stack—which is less than the bet(s) prior to or after his turn—another player's exposure to that player is equal only to the amount of that player's whole stack invested in the pot. As to such a player, known as ‘all in,’ and the player(s) he competes with through the ‘river’ (to be described below), players who later fold not being considered, the hand will always be fully dealt out, with a winner declared, using all board cards. After a player or players go ‘all in,’ betting can continue by other players. When this happens, separate ‘side’ pots can be created for the players who continue betting and calling one another. These side pots are won by the continuing players, and in these hands two or more players can be declared winners (even if the ‘all in’ player makes the best hand, the continuing player with the next highest hand will win the side pot). Depending on the site rules, a player or player may have the above ‘all in’ rules apply to him (even if he has chips), in instances where he benefits from a ‘disconnect protect.’ A disconnect protect allows a player to avoid being folded from an on-line game if the game server perceives that he has been disconnected from the server.
In ‘no limit’ games, any player can bet his stack or any portion of it, but with a minimum ‘call’ of the lesser of the bet(s) made in that betting round prior to his turn or his stack. All raisers can raise their entire stacks or any portions of them but with a minimum of the lesser of the entire stack or the amount of chips of the bet being raised (e.g., a prior raise of $20 can be re-raised by an amount of $40 or more). If ever a player bets his whole stack, side pots are created as described above.
In ‘pot limit’ games, a player can bet up to the amount of chips in the pot to that point (including previous bets made in that round), or any portion thereof but with a minimum of the lesser of the value of the largest blind in that hand or his stack if his stack is less than the largest blind amount. To ‘call,’ a player must put in the lesser of either the bet(s) made in that betting round prior to his turn or his whole stack. All raisers can raise up to their entire stack (subject to the pot limit criteria above) or any portion thereof but with a minimum of the lesser of the entire stack or the amount of the bet being raised. If ever a player bets his whole stack, side pots can ensue.
The first player to the left of the dealer button must bet ‘in the blind’ before any cards are dealt. (In some games, two or more blinds are required.) After the blinds are posted, two cards (‘hole’ cards) are dealt ‘down’ (unseen by other players, and only to be played as part of the recipient's hand) to each player. After this, proceeding in a clockwise order from the blind bettor(s), each player may call the blind bet(s), raise or fold. Players required to bet ‘in the blind’ have an option to raise their blind bets on the first round of betting, with the farthest-clockwise-away blind bettor being the last to act in the initial betting round. At any time, a hand will conclude if there is only one remaining player still ‘in’ (not folded, while all others have folded), and if this happens that sole player is declared the winner and the pot is given to that player.
After the first round of betting, the first three board cards are simultaneously turned up (the ‘flop’) as community cards. Then each player who is still ‘in,’ starting with the first ‘in’ player to the left of the button, may check, bet, call, raise, re-raise (re-raises may be limited to three in any round) or fold. The betting round is complete when there are no more parties left to act, and when there are no more bets or raises which have not been called or responded to by an all-in or fold.
A fourth card is then turned up (the ‘turn’) on the board as a community card, and betting proceeds for the remaining ‘in’ players as described above. Finally, a fifth and last card is turned up (the ‘river’) on the board as a community card, and betting proceeds for the remaining ‘in’ players. After the river round betting is complete, the last bettor's hole cards are opened and ‘read’ to determine the strength of that hand when combined with the five board cards, and the same reading of hands is then done in clockwise order with respect to the hole cards of each player still ‘in.’ The winner(s) are declared and the pot is distributed.
After each hand, the dealer-button moves clockwise to the next player, placing that player in the dealer position. The next hand then commences.
There may be minor regional variations to elements of the game, which are not part of the above description, and which are known in the art. These are not critical to understanding the invention described herein. An example of a commonly known feature is the ‘rake’ that is often taken by the house/casino, so that it profits from the game. A casino or poker site does not traditionally bet with players. Instead, it charges players a fee for its hosting/supervising the game. There are typically two kinds of fees: entry fees charged in tournaments, and a rake collected from ring game pots (fees vary depending upon the games stakes, how far the hand goes and/or the pot's size). Rake is not further described herein, since inclusion of a rake does not affect the desirable qualities of the subject invention.
While the game of Texas Hold'em satisfies many of the criteria discussed above, on many if not most hands the game does not provide many players with what might be generally viewed as playable hands. As a result, in many circumstances of play, three players or fewer at a ten-player table play a hand beyond what is called the pre-flop stage (before any community cards are turned up).
Since a player starts with two cards, there are 169 distinct starting hands in Texas Hold'em. (Excluding permutations associated with specific suits, as suits are irrelevant to hand strength, there are 13 times 13, or 169, combinations. This recognizes suited hands such as 8 and 9 of Spades as different from an unsuited 8, 9 hand.) The following rankings of the 169 starting hands, ordered from best to worst, are based on one published methodology but alternative methodologies that give rise to other orderings are possible. The letters T, J, Q, K and A refer to a card of value ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace, respectively. The notation ‘s’ in the table after two cards means that the two cards are of the same suit. The notation ‘o’ (off-suit) means that the two cards are of different suits—pairs are understood to be off-suit with no notation required.
RankCards1AA2KK3QQ4AKs5JJ6AQs7KQs8AJs9KJs10TT11AKo12ATs13QJs14KTs15QTs16JTs179918AQo19A9s20KQo218822K9s23T9s24A8s25Q9s26J9s27AJo28A5s297730A7s31KJo32A4s33A3s34A6s35QJo366637K8s38T8s39A2s4098s41J8s42ATo43Q8s44K7s45KTo465547JTo4887s49QTo50445122523353K6s5497s55K5s5676s57T7s58K4s59K2s60K3s61Q7s6286s6365s64J7s6554s66Q6s6775s6896s69Q5s7064s71Q4s72Q3s73T9o74T6s75Q2s76A9o7753s7885s79J6s80J9o81K9o82J5s83Q9o8443s8574s86J4s87J3s8895s89J2s9063s91A8o9252s93T5s9484s95T4s96T3s9742s98T2s9998o100T8o101A5o102A7o10373s104A4o10532s10694s10793s108J8o109A3o11062s11192s112K8o113A6o11487o115Q8o11683s117A2o11882s11997o12072s12176o122K7o12365o124T7o125K6o12686012754o128K5o129J7o13075o131Q7o132K4o133K3o13496o135K2o13664o137Q6o13853o13985o140T6o141Q5o14243o143Q4o144Q3o14574o146Q2o147J6o14863o149J5o15095o15152o152J4o153J3o15442o155J2o15684o157T5o158T4o15932o160T3o16173o162T2o16362o16494o16593o16692o16783o16882o16972o
A big factor in whether a dealt hand wins in the end is how strong it is at the beginning of the hand. Recognizing his typical hand's weakness, a player on average folds better than two of three hands dealt to him pre-flop (before any community cards are opened), so as to avoid voluntarily investing chips in the pot on inferior cards. There are many folds because under Texas Hold'em's rules (two hole cards to each player), each player has only one of the 169 distinct starting hands. Often, this sole hand is likely a substantial underdog to the better hands which might be held by another player in any given game.
Viewed another way, in Texas Hold'em, 70% of the players are not active for three quarters of the time since play entails four betting rounds (pre-flop, flop, turn and river) and 70% of the players fold during the pre-flop betting round. These 70% of the players are inactive and potentially bored for the final three betting rounds of each hand. Being unoccupied for three quarters of the time is inconsistent with a player's desire to be significantly involved in the game. This inconsistency undermines the recreational quality of the Texas Hold'em gaming experience.